Osage County awards IT contract to Century Business Technologies after interviews and executive sessions

The Osage County Commission voted to award the county's new information-technology services contract to Century Business Technologies following interviews with bidders and a series of executive sessions.

Commissioners said the county issued a request for proposals after recent IT problems and a data loss last year. Commissioner Les said the county needs centralized IT oversight and that elected officials who keep separate IT vendors will still have to coordinate with the countywide provider “and work with that person.”

The commission interviewed bidders in closed sessions and held additional executive discussion among commissioners; the meeting record shows interview sessions beginning at the public discussion and closed sessions called under proprietary IT information. After deliberation, a commissioner moved to approve awarding the contract to Century Business Technologies for a one-year period. The motion passed. Meeting notes indicate the contract amount in the meeting packet as "$49.97 annually." Commissioners asked the vendor to provide a template agreement to be forwarded to the commission attorney for review before signatures and said they expect formal signing next week.

Commissioners discussed several technical items during the public portion of the IT agenda, including consolidating servers, segmentation for remote access, and differing needs across county departments. Commissioners acknowledged at least five separate IT configurations would remain — including separate systems for the sheriff, district court and county attorney — while a centralized contractor would maintain countywide security and servers for shared functions.

Century representative Donnie Hansen appeared in person during the interviews and was thanked for a “fair proposal” and for detailing priorities. Commissioners said they will require the selected vendor to clarify scope — which departments will be included, how off-site access will be handled, and what the consolidation of servers would mean for remote offices — before final execution.

The commission directed the vendor to send a contract template to the county attorney for review. Commissioners said no further public action was required while the attorney reviews the contract, and they expect to complete the signing process at a subsequent meeting.

No protest or formal challenge to the award was recorded in the meeting minutes.